Variances
by Mother of Dragonborns
Summary: Seven prompts for the ItaSaku fest over at Tumblr. Day One : Meeting - While her parents are enrolling Sakura into the Academy, she gets a little lost.
1. Chapter 1

Sakura pushed her bangs out of her eyes to see the path she was walking with her parents to the Academy. The little girl tried not to squeal with a childish delight at the thought that today was the day her parents would be enrolling her into the Ninja Academy!

Her Mama glanced behind her with a worried expression written across her face. Seeing it made Sakura knit her brows with determination and she picked up her pace to catch up with her parents. Mama and Papa had insisted that she hold one of their hands while walking to the Academy, which Sakura firmly said no to. She was going to be a ninja! Which meant she was no longer a baby that needed to hold hands with her Mama or Papa.

Upon seeing the long line outside the door of parents lining up to enroll their child into the Ninja Academy, Sakura caught sight of her parents exchanging glances and a few quick murmured words before turning to Sakura. "Sakura-chan." Papa said, bending down to her daughter's eye level. "Why don't you go explore and play a little while we enroll you?"

Sakura looked around at all the activity going on outside the Ninja Academy before nodding excitedly. "Stay within earshot!" Mama called after her daughter as she skipped on ahead to explore her new surroundings.

Initially, Sakura headed towards the swings set, but stopped and hesitated since a blonde haired boy was already occupying it. Based upon the fact the other kids ran away the moment he sat down, Sakura decided he was not a good boy to play with.

Instead, she wandered some more until she caught sight of three ANBU members entering the Hokage's office. Sea Green eyes wide with fascination, Sakura studied each mask intently: two cat masks along with a mask that Sakura knew was not a cat, but could not identify the animal.

Sakura knew each ANBU member had to be secretive with their identity. She giggled nervously to herself as she imagined an ANBU getting testy over someone mistaking their mask for another animal.

While Sakura knew she should have ran the other direction when she saw someone in ANBU within a several mile radius of her, her eyes remained trained on the door. Maybe she would get to see them leave without their masks on!

After what seemed like an eternity, Sakura was disappointed when she heard Mama calling her name. Looking around, her heart began to beat faster upon realizing she forgot the way back to the entrance to the Academy.

_Uh-oh…_

"Mama! Papa!" Sakura cried out, her head darting about in hopes she would see where he parents were.

"Do you need some help finding your parents?"

Sakura turned and looked up to see a big kid with warm black eyes was looking down at her. She felt herself blush a little, not only from embarrassment since she looked like a baby, but for a boy, he was kind of cute…

"Um…" Sakura put her hand near her mouth and thought for a moment before casting one more look at the big kid's face. He smiled pleasantly back at her. "Yes." she concluded. "Mama and Papa were enrolling me into the Academy and told me to stay within ear shot. I didn't realize I wandered so far…"

"My parents are at the Academy enrolling my little brother. I'll show you the way." he said.

"Thank you!" Sakura chirped began to follow the big kid. "Are you still in the Academy?"

"I graduated quite some time ago." The boy replied. "I'm actually…a Jounin."

The big kid's hesitation and the way his body tensed up did not escape Sakura's perceptive gaze. Her breath caught in when she realized the big kid had the SAME black pony tail as one of the ANBU members she saw earlier.

_NO…WAY!_

Sakura quickly put a hand to her mouth to hide her grin. If the big kid knew that she _knew_ his secret identity, he would probably kill her. And Sakura did not want to be killed. Not before she could become an awesome kunoichi who could summon all sorts of cute cats and dogs to do her bidding!

Finally, she caught sight of her parents. "Mama! Papa!" she called in greeting , waving her hand excitedly. Before turning to run to her parents, she looked at the friendly ANBU. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Now I won't be scolded or grounded!"

The big kid once more smiled down at her. "Well, I am glad I can help a future kunoichi of Konha out." he replied.

Just as she started running towards her parents, Sakura saw a boy running in her direction, waving at the kid behind her. "Itachi! Itachi!" the boy called out. "I'm going to be a shinobi just like you!"

Once more, Sakura grinned to herself. She knew a secret; she knew someone in ANBU and his name was Itachi. Sakura wanted to tell her parents her secret, but knew she couldn't. ANBU were rumored to be listening in to _everything. _She was not about to get killed for having a big mouth.

Not too long after that, she heard that Uchiha Itachi slaughtered his entire clan. Sakura was a bit older, but not old enough to fully understand the adult world. She wondered if Itachi had to kill his entire clan because they found out he was in ANBU.

If that was the case, Sakura was very glad she never told Mama and Papa Itachi's secret.

—

!BONUS! Because this idea popped in my head while writing this and I could not leave the idea alone:

Bear turned his head as his fellow ANBU made her presence known. He felt himself relax a little upon sensing she had no killing intent. "Report, Pink Cat."

Instead of reporting, Pink Cat put her hands on her hips. "It's not a cat." she protested. Gloved darted to her mask and pointed to the stripes on it. "It's a tiger. See the stripes? Secondly, it's a light red. Not pink."

Bear sighed and tried again. "Light Red Tiger. Please report."

—

"Oh no fair!" Came a surprisingly masculine voice from behind the strange bird-looking mask. "I wanted a cute mask Want to trade?"


	2. Chapter 2

Shinobi had many ways to cope with their profession and in her line of work, self-care was stressed to avoid the high burn out rate-or as some called it, crippling insanity-among shinobi. The trifecta of self-care for many shinobi was simple: sleep, food, sex. Others preferred indulging in more vices such as drinking themselves into oblivion. At the moment, Sakura was favoring doing just that.

Admittedly, she did not have the best coping mechanisms for difficult emotions like this. Over the years, she had compartmentalized them, turning those helpless emotions into aggression—especially on the battlefield. Now that the war was over, she could no longer do that. The fucking away the pain phase of her life had been short-lived because in the morning, she had always been filed with a deep sense of remorse. Eating her problems away resulted in similar feelings and sleeping away her life was also not an option.

It had been three years since Sasuke tapped her on the forehead and promised to see her later before he began to wander the world in search of redemption. He must have been more than a shinobi because his ability to disappear was nothing short of impressive. Slowly, Sakura had given up on the notion of ever finding that romantic relationship she had long sought after.

She had even decided to focus on her career until he came waltzing into the front gates of Konoha and was praised a hero as his name had been stricken from the Bingo book for a long time. And of course he had to fuck up all of Sakura's careful plans: she was going to be the best aunt to Naruto and Hinata's future children and maybe buy a bunch of cats. Or even get a ninneko.

She would have been perfectly content.

And then he had made her feel all silly and girly. He had made her feel emotions that Sakura had warded off for so long. That scared her, she did not want those feelings again. Especially from him. Someone that was so close to the vagabond Sasuke was bad. Bad news bears. Which meant that the only solution to her predicament would be to drink and dance her problems away while she wasn't working. Filling her time with countless activities distracted her from the thought of his onyx eyes and warm lips that turned up ever so slightly when he was amused…

Of course Ino was no help in this department. She would just tell her fellow medic that she wasn't getting younger and how her forehead was clouding her judgment. TenTen was not approachable in this area either considering she was still mourning the death of Neiji. Hinata would get the almost scandalized look to her face that told Sakura that that the Hyuuga heiress wished she would not be having this conversation as her problematic love life might infect her. Tsunade-sama would just shrug and suggest she just screw the guy already and stop wasting her time over such foolishness. Shizune was just bad at giving advice in this area, just plain bad.

Which was all fine, Sakura supposed. Ino at least was still a good-time girl, always up for a few drinks. So Ino being her partner-in-crime would have been fantastic. Except for the one minor, oh-so minor problem…

"Did you really have to bring him?" Sakura shouted over the music as she used her drink to gesture to Sai. The former Root operative had shifted his gaze to her and she could not discern the slight change in his affect to determine how he was impacted by her statement. Sakura gave an almost apologetic look to her former teammate. "No offense. Girl's night!"

Sai just gave the woman a slight shrug as if to say he wasn't that offended before he turned his attentions back to Ino. Sakura wanted to bury her head in her hands. She hated when her friends were so couple-y around her. It's indecent! Her inner monologue raged.

Instead of being a voyeur, she leaned forward and resumed drinking while listening to the music. Sakura did not recognize whatever it was that the DJ was playing, but it was easy to keep up with. One of her feet shook along to the tempo.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura spied that Sai put an arm around Ino. The traitorous swine had the audacity to lean in towards him. It was surprising to see Sai like that. Sometimes he was like another former ANBU member she knew. One that was not Kakashi-sensei.

Nope! She told herself. Not going there. Not, not NOT going there again. She had to think quickly to forget about him.

Kakashi-sensei! She decided. Kakashi-sensei on the dance floor, in his Sixth Hokage coat and nothing else, shaking it to the music…

Instead of laughing, Sakura felt thoroughly disgusted. With a sigh, she downed the last of her drink and stood up from the table. Sakura was not even going to bother attempting to coax the swine and Sai into dancing. Solo, Ino was all about the table top dancing and risqué behavior. Even if Sakura could drag the couple away from their cuddle session, Sai and Ino would just end up grinding on one another while periodically making out. Sakura was not in the mood to be the awkward third wheel who had to pretend she was very interested in anything asides from the affectionate new couple.

Confidence artificially boosted by alcohol, Sakura shouted something to the couple about watching her stuff before making her way to the dance floor.

Sakura maneuvering through the crowd found her in one of her and Ino's favorite spots. Despite the skirt and heels she wore, she climbed up to the platform with reckless abandon and made her way to the second one until she joined the other dancers in the cage that was anchored to one of the platforms. Once there, she swayed began her hips along to the rhythm of the music.

Her years as a kunoichi allowed her to have a certain amount of grace. Looking around, she could easily tell who was a shinobi and who was a civilian based upon the way their bodies pulsated to the music. Fighting was a different kind of dance where one had to use their body as a weapon, twisting and contorting it while using their chakra to inflict deadly jutsu upon an opponent.

That movement when fueled with the encouragement of music and alcohol coursing through her system was a high for Sakura. It was exactly what she needed. The vibrations from the other dancers along with the music encouraged her more as she shimmed around the cage. The other clubbers were her allies in this battle against herself, encouraging her with their own movements. The relationship was a harmonious one with their good vibes feeding on her, encouraging her on.

Sakura rolled her hands down her hips while simultaneously making a figure eight with them and snapping back. Upon rising, the lights nearly blinded Sakura and she could see a bar nearby. She had stuffed several ryo down her top and as she swayed towards her destination, she covertly dug it out from the inside of her bra, hoping the bartender would be none the wiser.

Once she placed her order, she returned to her stage with the drink in hand as her prize. Taking a sip, Sakura's eyes wandered to where she abandoned Ino and Sai. The two had their faces towards one another as if they were attempting to have a conversation over the roar of the music before they turned their attention back to the dance floor. Her teammate looked almost shocked by the wild behavior exhibited by the former disciple of the Fitfth Hokage. Which honestly, should not surprise anyone. Tsunade had always been a wildcard, so it was it any wonder her habits rubbed off on her youngest disciple?

Sakura's keen eyes caught Sai stuffing something back into his pocket. Was he texting? Sakura hoped he did not take a picture of her and send it to their friends.

Then again, she mused while sucking down her drink, she really didn't care. So what if she went out and danced a little? It was not as if she got plastered every night and went to work hungover. She was too smart to get hangovers.

Ino looked unaffected by it all. This did not surprise Sakura as the blonde was known to do some pretty crazy things while out. Since she was with her boyfriend, she of course, was appearing to be the sensible one. As if.

A strand of pink hair, slick with sweat entered her vision. Sakura quickly flipped it aside before she resumed dancing. Even if she was a kunoichi, it did not stop men who thought a girl dancing along was an open invitation to be her dance partner. Using a slight bit of chakra, Sakura, she gave his chest a quick push to show others that for tonight (and as long as she wanted, really), she would be a solo show.

Quickly forgetting about the encounter, Sakura pivoted on her heel and smoothed her hands over her that was plastered to the small curves of her body. She felt eyes on her and gave her hips one final thrust before whirling her body around to the corner her friends occupied. Her face fell as her good mood vanished.

Naruto and Hinata had arrived and were attempting to form a huddle with Sai and Ino; their heads bowed awkwardly close to each other while attempting to speak with one another. It looked like Sai had let Naruto know what Sakura was doing. Ino leaning on one hand, sipping on her cocktail with an icy glint to her eyes confirmed she was not the whistleblower. Chicks before dicks and all that.

Naruto and Hinata's presence would not have caused Sakura to bat an eye. Naruto was her bestie and since Hinata was not the type to dance in front of crowds, it meant Naruto was her permanent dance buddy when everyone else decided being a couple was more fun than having a good time.

Naruto's presence would have elated Sakura even further. That would have been the case if it were not for the piercing gaze of Uchiha Itachi. Sakura knew exactly how this all played out. No doubt Sai text Naruto, telling him to collect his friend who was acting crazy.

Naruto was more than likely on a date with Hinata and after receiving the message, immediately set out to help out a friend. Being the eternal do-gooder her was, Naruto probably thought contacting the object of her angst in order to play matchmaker was the right thing to do. Or with Naruto's unrelenting optimism, probably thought he and Sakura worked things out and had tagged along to collect her like she was actually his woman.

Fuck that! Her innermost thoughts shouted as she shot the squad plus one interloper a glare. As she did so, her sea-green eyes locked with the Uchiha's. Unlike Sasuke's, the black eyes of the older Uchiha sibling did not hold the same raging inferno of hatred behind them. Instead they held a cool intensity that was reminiscent of an animal on the prowl; cold, deadly, and showing no emotion. There was no hint of annoyance of jealousy on his face because Uchiha Itachi was a master of emotions and conquered them like he conquered and slew every enemy he faced.

Sakura did not want Itachi to murder anyone that looked at her in a testosterone-fueled rage. However, a little inkling of emotion would have been nice from the man whose hands and tongue she was now very well acquainted with.

Tilting his head to the side, Itachi said something to the group who turned their heads to the Uchiha in confusion before looking to one another for an answer. With a slight furrow of her brow, she watched as the clan slayer approached the dance floor. As he passed a chair, he carried it along with him. Upon reaching the edge of the dance floor, he pushed the chair to the closest table and sat down in it with his legs open and arms folded indifferently across his chest.

Except for raising a brow ever-so slightly, his mien betrayed nothing. Sakura narrowed her eyes and sucked down the rest of her drink. The Uchiha responded by a slight incline of his chin. A frisson of excitement climbed up her spine.

She was a kunoichi and recognized a challenge when it was raised.

Well, then. Challenge accepted.

Sakura hopped from both platforms with the ease and landed perfectly on the floor. Even in heels, she was still a warrior and would show no clumsiness on the battlefield. Like a cat playing with its prey before going for the kill, she approached Itachi with a slow, meandering saunter. With her eyes locked with her opponent and alcohol clouding her brain, she did not see the man approach her when she was a mere feet away from Itachi until he merely held out his arm, sending him flying backwards into the crowd.

Shinobi and alcohol made this a common occurrence and the act of violence was ignored until she dropped until his lap with a predatory grin. As Sakura hooked her arms around Itachi's shoulders, she noticed how his black eyes bled red as he activated the Sharingan in order to not miss the slightest contraction of her muscles fibers or bead of sweat that trailed down her body. Currently, he was observing as a droplet made its way down Sakura's neck, traveling across her exposed cleavage before being absorbed by her dress.

Sakura had pegged Itachi for a deeply private man, only shedding his façade of cool indifference once he was safely behind closed doors with the blinds drawn. This…this was different, unprecedented. Of course, this, was out of character for Sakura who, despite this current phase where she tittered on the boundaries of decency, was beyond her sense of propriety.

Alcohol inhibited her inhibitions, allowing her to find this scandalous display exciting. And of course, there was a matter of the challenge she had been issued. Haruno Sakura was not one to back down from a challenge like this.

Legs on either side of the chair, Sakura held her position until a new song started up. Immediately, she threw her head back and jutted her hips forward while lowering her body closer to Itachi's while periodically moving her hips forward in a swaying motion. These acts serving to mimic the dance moves she was seen performing earlier.

Sakura's leg muscles were able to hold her while her abdominals served as a stabilizer. Even so, the alcohol and cursed heels caused the kunoichi to feel slightly off balance. The Sharingan missed nothing and Itachi's powerful hands went to each side of Sakura's hip to hold her steady while she rocked.

On another dip, Sakura felt something she had not before and her eyes went upwards, grateful that the lights were hiding her blush as realization dawned on her what she had bumped into.

Biting her lip, Sakura told herself this was nothing she had not felt against her backside before. Part of her wanted to stand up and flee to the booth her friends occupied in embarrassment. However, she would not give up on the challenge so easily. Her shishou had taught her that virginal embarrassment was something that needed to be overcome.

With a renewed sense of resolve, Sakura repeated the same move and felt Itachi's hands move from her sides until his fingers pressed down into her with such intensity, Sakura wondered if she would need to check for micro fractures in the morning.

Sakura moved her hands over his to bend backwards. Countering, Itachi used his the muscles of his thighs to lift her while she continued to test her flexibility until her short pink strands of hair met the floor.

Immediately, Sakrua snapped herself back up and Itachi's hands returned to her waist. She took that moment to lock eyes with his once more, allowing herself to enjoy the warm sensation as her eyes drank in the sight of the Sharingan making a slow revolution around Itachi's pupil. Sakura was aware how dangerous it was to stare into those eyes that could trap her in a prison of Itachi's own sadistic creation. Itachi may have been a true Leaf shinobi, but it did not take away how dangerous the man before her was. Knowing that danger was an addicting thrill for her.

Sakura licked her lips. The look in Itachi's eyes was predatory enough to cause her heart to beat more intensely. His face was a mask of cold indifference, but his eyes held a heat that Sakura had never seen in a man's stare before. To think she truly believed this was a man who had no emotions…

Drunk on more than just sensation, she learned forward. Itachi moved his hands up Sakura's body while his teeth nipped her throat.

Ignoring the wave of heat that went through her body, Sakura dipped once more and grinded against him. The groan that vibrated through Itachi was all the satisfaction that she needed. Stabilizing herself with one hand, Sakura used her free hand to force Itachi's chin up to look at him once more.

He was clearly not in the mood for that anymore. Lips seizing hers, she felt his teeth graze against her lips and Sakura forces herself not to echo his moan. Parting her mouth to allow his tongue entry, Sakura deepened the kiss and moved her hands up to run themselves through Itachi's silky hair.

This was all so familiar and before, the problems she had been so adamant to escape from ebbed away until all she could think about was how she wished she was somewhere more private with him. "Itachi…" she breathed as she broke the kiss.

Without warning, Itachi abruptly stood. She would have fallen flat on her face if it were not for a strong arm wrapping around her waist to steady her.

"Fun's over." he announced, his velvety voice holding an air of finality as he unwrapped his arm from around Sakura. He turned and made his way back to the booth her friends occupied. While walking, Sakura finally began to feel how intoxicated she truly was.

Upon returning, Sakura looked over at her friends. Sai looked almost scandalized with his surprised he was while Naruto cheeky grinned at Sakura as if to say 'You're welcome.' Hinata was busying herself with watching the other dancers, politely pretending two very unlikely people partook in a lap dance in public.

Ino, however just shook her head. "I TOLD Sai not to tell that loudmouth Naruto." She hissed to her pink-haired friend as she stumbled towards the table.

"Oh." Sakura slurred, uttering the first words she had in quite some time while she collapsed in the booth next to Ino. She gave the blond a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm over it, I'm tooootally over it."

"Sakura-chan…?" Came Hinata's concerned voice once she finally saw how intoxicated her fellow kunouchi really was. Ino caught the heiress' eye and gave slight shake of her head to show this was not unusual. On a normal night, Ino and Sakura would stumble to one of their crummy apartments and collapse on the first piece of soft furniture they came across. Naruto was used to pretending to be sober enough to see Sakura home before making his own way home.

Itachi remained a silent presence standing next to Sakura and did not escape the group's notice.

"I think it's time to head home." Naruto announced, giving a nod to his girlfriend and teammate.

Sakura felt herself perk up. "No way!" she protested. "I'm gunna ride this party wave until it crashes."

Hinata exchanged a worried look with both Ino and Naruto and Sakura felt her jaw clench and face redden because she knew what they were thinking about. "I don't do that anymore! That was a looong time ago."

Besides, she thought grumpily. The only guy who she wanted to bring home was standing eerily silent next to her.

"Well I mean. Are you going to…?" Naruto begin and glanced over to the individual to Sakura's side before he nodded. "Ugh. Actually. Never mind."

Sakura followed the quad out into the streets of Konoha and waved good-bye to them. Watching her friends wrap themselves around their significant others to shield off the coolness of the late summer night stirred a familiar feeling of longing in the pit of Sakura's stomach.

She turned back to the man who she had been crawling over less than five minutes ago. "Just go away."

Itachi's eyes narrowed dangerously. Instead of feeling that same thrill she experienced only minutes ago, her drunk mind focused on fact that the mesh of his top had been ripped. Sakura resisted the urge to giggle. _Oops!_

The Uchiha merely stared down at Sakura and for a few moments, he was a silent yet deadly statue while he calculated his next move. Or he was trying psych Sakura out…she really wasn't sure.

Finally, he leaned forward and breathed three words into Sakura's ear. "Come with me."

Sakura felt momentarily stunned. She was not used to hearing those words. Usually it was her begging to be taken with or included. This was not how things went; Sakura was the one who was left behind. There was nothing else she could do.

"Okay."

* * *

><p>Since I didn't have tomatoes and rotten vegetables thrown at me last time, have some more ANBU antics!<p>

Up on her housetop, there was a _click, click, click_ and Kurenai knew it was not Saint Nick. Even during her most exhausting missions, Kurenai did not mind the sound of shinobi jumping from rooftop to rooftop or decide her roof was the perfect rendezvous point. That was before she became a mother. Her daughter was quite arguably the lightest sleeper there ever was.

Kurenai crept to her daughter's room and cast a noise canceling genjutsu before she went to the window. Throwing the shutters open, she fixed the three interlopers with distaste. "While I respect the job ANBU does, could you _please_ use someone _else's _rooftop to conduct your top secret meetings?" she hissed. While what she said sounded like a question, it was more of an order. "Mirai-chan finally fell asleep!"

In spite of their animal masks, the three looked somewhat repentant. Or as cowed as members of ANBU could be. "S-Sorry s-senshi," one of the females said demurely. Kurenai kept up her mask of exasperation, but felt slightly incredulous upon hearing that familiar voice.

Surely that could not be who she thought...?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the man wearing the light red tiger mask. "My ex-girlfriend lives a few rooftops over," he said. "Let's migrate over there."

Not wanting to know any more of the trio, Kurenai quickly went back inside and closed her shutters behind her.


End file.
